And the Norwich striker did it again with a stoppage-time leveller against City’s Premier League visitors.

The Scotland international has never been a regular in the starting line-up since his £8.5million move from Everton a year ago.

He scored on his Canaries debut in that 5-4 thriller against Liverpool but has never seemed to have done enough to convince Alex Neil.

But another priceless header – in the 92nd minute – helped his side come from behind for a second time to ensure their number is in tomorrow night’s Fourth Round draw.

Norwich boss Neil said: “I was delighted for Steven. I thought he worked extremely hard, he was diligent and won important battles for us.

“He did the ugly side really well and he got his reward. It’s a good draw against a good side and I think it was competitive game and it was probably a fairish result.

“It’s an extra game and we have got a lot of players. We can now give some of them a game so I’m not disappointed.”

Which Premier League team has made the most passes this season?

WHICH Premier League team has made the most passes this season?

1 / 20

GETTY

20. West Brom - 6,250

But Naismith’s goal left Saints shellshocked as they prepare for Wednesday night’s EFL Cup Semi-Final at St Mary’s.

They have removed any thoughts that Virgil Van Dijk’s won’t still be around if they do get the better of Liverpool over two legs.

And you can see exactly why the Saints don’t want to lose their two most experienced centre-backs in the same window.

They will almost certainly let skipper Jose Fonte leave after he slapped in an official transfer request and boss Claude Puel made a point by not even having him on the bench yesterday.

Puel said: “I don’t want to give a reason why he wasn’t picked. I cannot give an answer about him, it’s between Jose and the club and we will see in the future.

“I’ll make a decision whether he plays against Liverpool on Monday or Tuesday. I respect it’s reasonable for Jose to see if there is any possibility of a move in the window.”

GETTY

Steven Naismith rescued a point for the Canaries

Fortunately for Puel, Dutchman Van Dijk was back to his imperious best.

He didn’t put a foot wrong at the back and found time to move up into the Canaries’ area to get the 37th-minute opener that should have put Saints on the path to the next round.

It was his fourth goal of the season but how he was allowed to trot into the penalty area without being spotted by any Norwich defender is a bigger mystery than his long-term future at St Mary’s.

Dusan Tadic’s long cross eluded everyone but Van Dijk and even though he thumped his shot into the turf, it still had enough on it to beat Michael McGovern.

Van Dijk’s backfour partner Maya Yoshida came up with what everyone thought was the winner after the Canaries had got back into the game from the penalty spot.

No one closed down Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and allowed him too much time to measure up his cross and the Japan defender got to it first, rocketing his header into the roof of the net past the exposed McGovern.

Southampton’s teenage goalkeeper Harry Lewis couldn’t have done anything about Naismith’s last-gasp header but he was badly at fault for the first home goal.

He gave Cameron Jerome the chance to sneak between him and the ball and dived in even though the striker was running away from the goal.

There was no imminent danger as he carelessly brought him down and Scotland international Steven Whittaker kept his composure and slammed home the spot-kick.